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User blog:RRabbit42/Proposal: requesting user rights
At the moment, there isn't an official way to request user rights on this wiki. The default info on the Administrators page says "On a smaller wiki, you may simply ask on the community portal or Forum, or ask a bureaucrat directly on his or her talk page." Recent events have shown that this might not be the best way to handle user rights requests. Having a list of requirements would help show who would be willing to put in the effort to earn those rights. People who would be willing to stick around and build the wiki. So, I'm going to propose requirements and we can decide if they're too strict or too lenient, or if we need to make other changes to them. Part of these are going to be based on what's in effect on other wikis. ; User rights levels There are several user rights that allow people to do different things on the wiki. The full list of what they can do can be seen in the "Local level" section of . * Chat Moderator: allows a person to block someone from the chat room if they are being disruptive. The length of the block can be set as needed. * Rollback: allows a person to undo several edits in a row by one person to fix vandalism or other problems. If the RecentChanges Patrol feature is enabled, their edits are generally considered trustworth and are automatically marked as "patrolled" by the system. * Content Moderator: has quite a few of the abilities an Administrator has in regards to maintenance on pages, primarily deleting, renaming and protecting pages and files, but also includes Rollback rights. * Discussions Moderator: can perform maintenance on Message Wall messages, Forums, blog comments, article comments and the Discussions feature. In essence, similar to an Administrator, but in just these areas. * Administrator: all functions listed above plus being able to block users, grant or remove user rights for all levels below admin, and make changes to the wiki's theme and system MediaWiki pages. * Bureaucrat: all functions as for an admin, plus the ability to grant or remove Administrator rights. (Also can grant Bureaucrat rights. See below about an important restriction on this.) These are listed in roughly lowest-level to highest-level, but the Content Moderator and Discussions Moderator are about equal. Their responsibilities are just focused on different sections of the wiki. ; Proposed requirements In order to be given advanced user rights on this wiki, I am proposing the following editing levels. The purpose is so that the person can demonstrate they have commitment to help the wiki, and in regards to the higher-level user rights of Administrator and Bureaucrat, can be trusted nto to misuse those rights. The frequency of the edits would be taken into consideration. For example, if someone made the 75 edits required to ask for Chat Moderator rights but they did so in just a few days, it might be an attempt to "burn" through the edits or "points gaming" just so they could be given those rights. Consistent editing over time is preferable. * Chat Moderator: 75 edits over 45 days. * Rollback: 100 edits over 60 days. * Content Moderator or Discussions Moderator: 200 edits over 90 days. ** Would need to decide if both could be requested at the same time, or if they have to be earned separately. * Administrator: 500 edits in six months. * Bureaucrat: must hold Administrator rights for at least a year and be active on a regular basis during that time. "Regular basis" would be something like making several edits a week, participating in discussions, etc. Of all of these, a Bureaucrat has the most rights and therefore must prove themselves absolutely trustworthy before they can be given those rights. The reason for this is that once someone has Bureaucrat rights, only they can give them up. If they misuse those rights, only Fandom staff can remove them. One 'crat can't remove those rights from another 'crat. ; Type of edits Some wikis look for what is called "wiki building" where a majority of the edits are spent on improving the articles or participating in community business, and would prefer that less be spent talking with other users or adding comments to articles, blogs or forums. For example, this blog is proposing a policy on how to request user rights, so it considered community business. Other areas that are beneficial to wiki building are listed in the Maintenance reports section of . To see what types of edits a person is making, go to and type in their user name. ; Self-nomination If the wiki continues to grow over time, it may be helpful to switch from where someone can ask for Administrator rights to where the members of the community nominate them if they see someone doing a good job. If this is chosen, then there would need to be a way to check that the person making the nomination has been around for a while. In some cases, new accounts making a nomination can be sockpuppets created to support a person's nomination. ; Invitation to receive extra user rights If someone has been around the wiki for a long time and is working to build it, Administrators might want to consider if they would be a good candidate for a particular user right like Rollback or Content Moderator. This would be for cases where it's evident they are helping the wiki but haven't requested any special rights. An admin might then leave them a message inviting them to apply. That person would still have to go through the process listed above. ; Conclusion As stated at the begining, the requirements may be too high or too low, so leave comments as to what you think they should be changed to and why. Statements supporting them as is are also welcomed. Category:Blog posts